Everything is Alright
by ollixanna
Summary: Dinner at the diner after Sawyer's first day of kindergarten. One shot.


**Disclaimer: I do not own One Tree Hill. This is also unbeta'd, so all mistakes are my own.**

**AN: I don't know where this came from.

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"Julian!" Sawyer shouts excitedly as slips her hand out of her mother's hold and runs toward the man whose face lights up with a ridiculously large grin once he realizes exactly who is calling his name.

Peyton rolls her eyes. But as she stands back and observes Julian tossing Sawyer into the air making her daughter erupt into giggles, she ends up with a smile herself. Sawyer loves her Uncle Julian (because he's tall and always makes her laugh she'd confided to her mother who promptly passed it on to Julian). Julian had smiled and said he remembered when Peyton had something similar, years ago, earning a playful bicep slap.

He sets Sawyer down and Peyton steps toward them and greets him familiarly, "Hey."

"Hey," he replies. Looking beyond her, he asks, "No Luke?"

Peyton shakes her head and says, "Just me and Sawyer today. Luke had to take care of a few things in New York."

"Oh," Julian says. He doesn't need to tell Peyton that Brooke's been in New York all week. He also doesn't need help understanding that Peyton is, _maybe_, just a little suspicious, because _maybe_ he is too. It _has_ been just him and these two beautiful blonde girls an awful lot lately and a lot more 'oh I wish I could's from their better halves. He clears his head of these thoughts and checks his watch, then asks, "Have you eaten?"

"We were going to the diner, because mommy burnt the grilled cheese," Sawyer says sweetly. Almost immediately, her eyes go large and she covers her mouth. She looks at her mom then says, "Oops, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone about that. Mommy, can we still have pie?"

Peyton's cheeks immediately flush, and Julian laughs aloud as she replies to her daughter, "Sure baby. Let's try to keep that to ourselves now though, okay?"

Sawyer nods seriously.

Julian stops laughing and asks, "Can I come with you?"

Sawyer's eyes immediately light up as she turns to her mom and says, "Pleaaaaase?"

Peyton gives Julian a pointed look as she says, "Sure, as long as Uncle J pays the bill."

Sawyer turns her way-too-brilliant-for-a-child-her-size eyes toward Julian and asks, "Will you? Pleaaaaase?"

The adults laugh at Sawyer's antics, and Julian says, "Sure, anything for my favorite girl."

Sawyer smiles and places one of her hands in Peyton's and the other in Julian's then pulls them down the sidewalk toward the diner. They soon find an easy rhythm and swing Sawyer back and forth between them. She chatters about her kindergarten class and about the class pet while the adults listen attentively and make appropriate comments.

Once they arrive at the diner, Julian holds the door open and Sawyer leads the way to their favorite booth. It is quite obvious that she has spent quite a bit of time here. Sawyer shares one side of the booth with her mom while Julian sits on the other.

A waitress brings them menus and crayons for Sawyer to color with. Sawyer ignores the pictures and games on the kids' menu and starts drawing on the butcher paper table covering. She's determined to draw an entire farm before they leave this time.

Julian takes his eyes off her and looks at Peyton. She's also watching Sawyer. It's obvious the girl means everything to her (especially now).

The waitress returns and Julian orders for everyone; as big a deal as Sawyer made about asking if he could come, the meal was a routine. If the girls were in town, he tried to meet them at the park on Wednesdays for burgers, fries, and milkshakes at the diner.

Today, there's a new waitress so he double-checks everything. Sawyer currently refuses to eat meat after finding out it comes from cows after a visit to the petting zoo with her Uncle Skills, so the order is special. But people are easily charmed by her bright eyes and smile. If those fail, her mother and uncle are always ready to step in and either pay ridiculous amounts of money for a child's plate, or use their own charm (usually the latter, but they're not beyond the former). Today, he finds that he has to go back to talk to the cook with the waitress, because she is sure that they don't make veggie burgers for children. The cook see's him coming and pulls his special broccoli patties from the freezer while saying, "I didn't think you were coming tonight."

"We had a late night on set," Julian says, as the cook nods in understanding.

"Still not eating beef huh?" he asks conversationally as the waitress hands him the order.

"Nope, and you know we're not allowed to eat meat either," Julian says as he flashes a smile.

"Kids," the cook says as he hangs the order up and starts pulling things from around the kitchen. "I don't mind cause ya'll are one of my best customers, and that girl is impossible to say no to."

Julian laughs and says, "Thanks man."

The waitress has disappeared somewhere during their interchange, so he leaves the kitchen.

When he returns to the table, he finds Peyton's eyes on him. He stares back for a while then asks, "What?"

"You didn't have to do that," she says quietly, glances at Sawyer and then focuses back on Julian.

"She's my favorite girl, of course I did," he answers, and the truth of the statement resonates.

She nods and then goes back to helping Sawyer with her farm. Julian would offer to help, but last week Sawyer had looked so disappointed in his efforts to draw horses he didn't think he could handle seeing that expression again. She was already extremely talented at drawing and coloring he can't help but be impressed, and a little proud. This week he settles for handing her whichever color she asked for, and coloring the sky blue, because, as Sawyer said, it is hard to mess that up.

Their food arrives and the waitress avoids covering the drawing as much as possible. Julian thanks her and she leaves them to themselves once more.

Peyton helps Sawyer fix her plate just so, and Julian starts his battle with the ketchup bottle. Once he gets it flowing, he pours some on his own plate before moving on to Sawyer and Peyton's. Meanwhile Peyton starts to put her own burger together and smiles at the extra pickle. Julian sets the ketchup down and meets Peyton's eyes as she says, "You remembered."

"I always remember," he states, and it's true, he never forgets the little things.

They eat their food, and Sawyer tells them more stories about her day at school and they again listen attentively. When the food is gone, and their milkshake glasses are empty, and they have shared one piece of pie between the three of them, the waitress brings the check, and Julian picks it up. Peyton makes a face. Usually she at least pays for her and Sawyer's share of the meal. Julian shakes his head and says, "You told Sawyer I could only come if I paid, so I'm making good."

Peyton makes a halfhearted attempt to maintain her serious countenance, but ends up laughing before she says, "Fine."

Julian and Sawyer smile at each other before Julian stands to pay the bill. He makes his way to the register and their waitress meets him there.

"I just want to say how sorry I am again, for the burger misunderstanding," she says as she punches their order into the register.

Julian waves his hand and says, "Don't worry about it, it's not your fault."

She smiles at him, and says, "Your total is 21.50"

He knows it should be more than that, but as he's about to correct her, she says, "The kid's burger is on me."

"You really don't have to," he says.

"I insist," she says.

So he pays and as she gives him his change, she says, "You're lucky to have such a beautiful family."

He looks over at Peyton who is helping Sawyer out of the booth, and back at the waitress. He knows he should correct her, but he kind of wants to pretend, just for a little while, so he says, "Thanks."

The girls join him at the register and he lifts Sawyer onto his back and they head out into the street again. Sawyer has more stories about the kids in her class. They walk down the street toward the park where Peyton is parked. Neither adult has to say anything, but it is obvious when their eyes meet there is a little part of them that wishes it could be like this all the time. Instead of having to pretend they don't see what's going on in the big apple. They get left behind, because apparently running an indie music label and making films can be done in Tree Hill; while publishing a novel and running a fashion magazine can only be done from New York. But no one's had that argument yet.

For now, everything is alright as long as Sawyer is smiling and having fun.

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**AN: Thanks for reading. Please leave a review, even if you didn't like it.**


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